Cookson Precious Metals to lay off up to 300

ATTLEBORO – Cookson Precious Metals Division plans to lay off between 225 and 300 workers through March 31, The Sun Chronicle reported.

Mayor Kevin Dumas said he was notified, as required by law, of the layoffs on Friday. The United Kingdom-based company said it began the layoffs Nov. 1, but it plans to keep the Attleboro facility open.

Cookson’s facility is located at O’Neil Boulevard, which “has been the focus of efforts by local and federal officials for about a decade to clean up the contaminated site and keep Cookson’s jobs in Attleboro,” the newspaper said. The $5 million federally funded cleanup began in 2006 and is now almost complete.

The current number of employees at Cookson was unclear at the time of the story’s publication. About 2 years ago, Cookson said it had laid off about 21 percent of its city work force due to a “slumping” jewelry market in the United States and Europe.

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